I was offered a copy of this book in audio format from the narrator in exchange for an honest review.
Frank Butcher is accidentally caught in the middle of a war between the ones who want to offer magic to everybody and the ones who want to eradicate magic from the world. He suffers severe injuries, and Doctor Gabrielle will have to replace his heart with an ancient artifact that is sought by all. This artifact will make Frank a key piece in this war.
This is an action packed book in which there are very few quiet moments. I think this book would have worked very well on screen. There are a lot of references to sci-fi movies and TV shows, so if you are not into this kind of things, this book may not be for you. There are also quite a number of profanities used by the main character. I just wanted to warn you since I have read some reviews complaining about this. Personally, I do not think there are more than in other books of the same style and I was not bothered by them.
I enjoyed the book but I missed to be able to connect to the characters. They are all quite flat, even Frank and Gabrielle. Secondary characters were a little more than mere silhouettes. I think if the characters were more polished and had more depth, the story would have worked better for me. Nevertheless it is quite good action story.
Something that bothered me a lot was how the artifact was named. Well, not really the name, but how the naming was used. Corazon means heart in Spanish, which makes sense, but they used the words ‘La Corazon’ when this word is masculine in Spanish, and it should be ‘El Corazon’. I understand that if the reader does not speak Spanish this will pass unnoticed, but I think it is a shame that the authors did not do more research and tried to be accurate.
Another thing that I noticed is that this book would have benefited from an editor to avoid sentences like: ‘This time when I pulled the trigger there was not mystic shield to cover up the weak spot this time’. Sorry, this does not work.
The best of the book was the narration, and it is what made it work. Joe Hempel never disappoints, a apart from becoming Frank in this story, he also gave distinctive voices to the rest of characters.
All in all I enjoyed this book, but due to the things commented above, I cannot give it more than 3 stars. 5 for the narration.
Available at Amazon/Audible
My name is Elena. Since I was a little child I loved science fiction and fantasy, and I can’t resist a good novel. In 2015, while wait I started to listen to audiobooks and I discovered the pleasure in being able to read while doing my daily tasks, so there’s always an audiobook playing on my phone. If you see me with my Bluetooth headphones on, please be gentle, I get easily startled.
I live with my boyfriend, which I met during my six-year stay in Belgium, four cockatiels, eight lovebirds, and a hamster in Madrid, Spain; and I like to spend my free time knitting and sewing while listening to audiobooks.
